Man held in attempted Payson carjacking

OREM  Filling up the tank of his car became a lot more exciting for an Idaho man who witnessed an attempted carjacking in Payson Thursday.

Zachary Shoemaker of Rexburg, Idaho, said he and his wife were traveling south on I-15 to St. George when they pulled off in Payson for a fill-up. While at the gas station he and his wife noticed a man who he said didn't seem right.

The next thing Shoemaker knew, he saw a car backing up with a woman pounding on the windows while trying to get into the back seat. He said the same man he and his wife saw walking around the gas station was at the wheel of the car. Moments later, he said, another man joined the woman in pounding on the windows, both yelling and screaming about a baby who was in the car.

Payson Police Lt. Bill Wright said Tara Wall and her parents were traveling in two cars on I-15 and that she had gotten out of her car and gone over to her parents' car to talk to them, when the man slipped into the car.

Shoemaker said the man didn't seem too concerned about anything, because he nonchalantly walked away from the scene, allegedly telling those around him he was confused, blind and dyslexic. Shoemaker said he ran back to his car, grabbed his cell phone and called 911 while following the man as he walked along the overpass over I-15.

"He looked back a couple of times," Shoemaker said, but he was surprised that he didn't even have to hurry to keep up with the man. He said he stayed on the line with the dispatcher until police arrived.

A 30-year-old man was booked in Utah County Jail on investigation of child kidnapping, vehicle theft and giving false information to a police officer.